Theodoric Meyer Posts

Since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling, hundreds of millions of dollars have flooded into the political system — much of it through nonprofit groups that have no legal obligation to identify their donors. Usually such efforts remain hidden from view, leaving voters unaware of who's paying for the gush of campaign calls, flyers and attack ads. But a court filing recently made public by a federal appeals court in Chicago provides a rare look at how so-called "dark money" groups helped one company get what it wanted.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo came to office pledging to eliminate campaign finance loopholes he himself used to stack millions in campaign cash. Here we are, years later, and Cuomo has not only refused to move on new regulations, he claims any new rules as unlikely.

There was some small hope that the IRS would effect some common sense rules changes prior to this year's elections, but those hopes have been dashed. Dark money groups will continue their unfettered spending after the IRS announced a delay in a reporting change for 'social welfare' nonprofits.

After the Supreme Court ruled on the side of big money – twice – the corrupt influence of unlimited cash seems all but inevitable. In a mostly symbolic gesture, Senate Dems have signed on to a constitutional amendment that would give Congress the power to regulate contributions. Oh, if only....

Congress did something unusual last year. It passed a bill that acknowledged that sea levels are rising — i.e., that climate change is happening. The measure in question required some modest action: that FEMA use “the best available climate science” to figure out how the flood insurance program it administers should handle rising seas. That hasn't happened, at all.

FEMA maps claim certain houses fall in flood zones - but in many cases, the information is outdated or wrong. Some homeowners have been paying higher rates for flood insurance, though their houses are on hills, or fall outside the flood plains of more modern and accurate maps.

A week after a blast at a Texas fertilizer plant killed at least 15 people and hurt more than 200, authorities still don’t know exactly why the West Chemical and Fertilizer Company plant exploded.

When the annual White House Easter Egg Hunt faced cancellation this year due to the package of mandatory budget cuts known as sequestration, the National Park Service kicked into high gear. It rescued the event — held since 1878.

When CBS News reported in 2011 that members of Congress weren’t prohibited from insider trading, Congress moved swiftly. President Obama signed a law banning it within six months of the broadcast. But Congress is still exempt from portions of a number of federal laws, including provisions that protect workers in the private sector but don’t apply to the legislative branch’s approximately 30,000 employees.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Congress passed two relief bills almost unanimously. But when it comes to Hurricane Sandy, some in Congress seem to have had a change of heart.

As the final hours of the campaign ticked away, we challenged ProPublica readers to help us “free the files” in Las Vegas, which aired more political ads this election cycle than any other market in the country. The results indicate a leading conservative dark-money group and its affiliated super PAC spent more than $9 million on television advertising in Las Vegas during the election— one in every five ad dollars spent in the market.

Since August, a dark money group called Defend My Dividend has spent nearly $90,000 running ads on South Florida TV stations warning seniors about a looming increase in the tax rate on dividends.

"You worked hard, saved for retirement, and dividends are a big part of it," says one of the ads, which Defend My Dividend has posted on YouTube. "But if President Obama and Congress don't act this year, tax rates on dividends will spike, almost tripling in some cases." Time is running out, the ad intones, as phone numbers for Obama and Congress appear on the screen.

With the documents Mitt Romney released recently, we know a bit more about his taxes.

We know, for instance, that Romney paid a rate of 14.1 percent on $13.7 million in income on his 2011 tax return, which he achieved by purposely overpaying. Though he was entitled to deduct $4 million in charitable contributions, Romney deducted only $2.25 million to keep his tax rate above 13 percent.

But there’s still a lot we don’t know. “I think most of the major questions we had before [last Friday] are still out there,” said Brian Galle, a tax law professor at Boston College.